This is tough. Day one of anything is tough, but given I've had no coffee today it's remarkable I'm not in jail. The 2pm headache was intense. I guess it's time to face that coffee addiction. Or not. I'll see how long I can go, willpower only goes so far.

Breakfast this morning was Buckwheat pancakes with fresh fruit. They were tasty and very simple to make. I didn't have hemp flour so I used barley flour instead with the buckwheat flour mix. Also I don't really care for agave nectar as I find it too sweet so I went all Canadian and just put a small amount of maple syrup on mine. The kid ate them as well and put Earth Balance on hers with maple syrup. We both loved them. I found them filling, tasty and the banana flavour really made it appealing. I wasn't really hungry this morning either so they are filling. We each had one and a half large pancakes.

Snack was the chocolate blueberry energy balls. Again, easy to make, but a lot of ingredients. I made them last night and left them in the fridge until today. After cycling to work I ate the one I brought, not because I was hungry but because I'm on a mission and can't deviate from the plan right? They are tasty. I'll add these (and the pancakes) to my regular rotation.

Lunch was the Cucumber Pesto Salad with Tomato Basil Dressing. I really enjoyed both the simple salad and dressing flavour. I ate a huge portion for lunch. It's a hot day today so a leafy green salad went down nice. Afternoon snack was the Ginger Pear Smoothie. This one looked runny and a little unappetizing but was tasty and refreshing on a warm afternoon. I drank it just before hopping on my bike to cycle home and that seemed great until I had to pee really bad only halfway there. Not the drinks fault, just my small bladder and poor timing.

Once home it was meal prep time again and we had the Almond Flaxseed Burger with mixed greens and Sweet Hemp Pesto. The kid ate her burger on a Silver Hills burger bun with ketchup and I ate mine on a slice of Silver Hills Squirelly Bread with black bean salsa. We both liked the burger for flavour (I baked ours in the oven) and even though the crumbly patties made it challenging to eat cleanly I think we'd both want to eat it again. The mixed greens were a bit boring and the dressing was chunky and didn't help much. It was ok but neither of us were a huge fan.

As I'm typing this I have zucchini chips cooling on the stove top which are supposed to be the evening snack. Honestly I don't know if I did something wrong but they don't look that appetizing. We'll see if we eat them. I've also begun prepping for breakfast tomorrow with Toasted Apple Cinnamon Cereal and Hemp Milk. I have to bake the cereal tonight, but it looks like it will make enough for two or three mornings so I could save time later in the week by repeating this breakfast.

My initial thoughts are that the food is tasty and it's been enjoyable to eat. I feel like I have been living in a raw vegan restaurant (except for the baking). You will need a lot of ingredients to make this food. It isn't complicated but it does take time and there is a lot of food prep. Almonds, hemp/coconut oil and ground flaxseed are frequent ingredients. A food processor and blender are a must. Also taking food to work takes planning. I'm used to it as I have pannier bags for my commuter bike and I just bring ice packs. It seems like my whole day outside of work has been food prep and cooking and that's ok but I know its going to get old at some point. I'm hopeful to get in a routine and make it easier. I notice some of the recipes give me left over dressings and food so it's possible I'll be able to save time on later days by re-using things already prepared.